Non-logical action as society's default
People act first from sentiment and then supply a logical-seeming explanation afterwards. Pareto argues that sociology must start from this fact rather than treat reasoned, goal-directed action as the norm.
The Mind and Society
6 ideas
Residues: the constant core beneath behavior
They change slowly while the doctrines built on them change constantly. To explain behavior, look for the constant residue, not the shifting stated reason.
Derivations: rationalisations dressed as reasons
Derivations are the variable arguments people invent to justify what their residues already inclined them to do. Their persuasive force comes from appeals to authority, from assertion, from agreement with sentiment, and from verbal tricks, not from logic.
Lions and foxes as governing types
Elites rely on one of two residue types. Class I, the instinct for combinations, produces foxes who govern through cunning, bargaining, and co-optation. Class II, the persistence of aggregates, produces lions who govern through force, loyalty, and faith. An elite that fills with foxes loses the will to use force, which leaves it open to lions from below who are willing to use it.
History is a graveyard of aristocracies
Every ruling elite decays as its vigor and willingness to defend itself weaken, while capable people accumulate among the governed. If the elite does not absorb those people, pressure builds until they displace it, often by revolution. The circulation of elites is therefore the constant of history, and appeals to the people or to justice serve as derivations covering one minority's replacement of another.
Society as an interdependent equilibrium system
Society works like a system in equilibrium in which residues, derivations, economic interests, and elite composition all affect one another. A disturbance in one part produces compensating changes in the others.